Composition for treatment of seeds



Patented Jan. 4, 1938 4 uuirsu stares COMPOSITION FOR TEEA'EMENT (NFSEEDS .lloscph Roy Boner, Addiscombe-Surrey, England, and Gustav Kossel,Hackensack, N. .l.

No Drawing. Application January lit i936, Serial No. 59,55@

6 Claims.

i'his invention relates to seed disinfectants, more particularly to theeradication or control of fungus diseases of seeds.

The use of organic mercury compounds for the control of such diseaseshas been practiced for some years more or less successfully. Many suchvcompounds have been described in the literature, and they have been usedin the form of solutions and emulsions, and mixed with solid inertdiluents in the form of dusts. However,'many of these prior artcompounds did not prove successful for the control oi the disease orresulted in injury to the seeds. Other compounds which gave good resultsin disease control, had certain 15 collateral disadvantages.

It has recently been demonstated (Dillon Weston in Booer-Journal ofAgricultural Science. Vol. XXV Part IV, Oct. 1935) that highly eihcientorganic mercury compounds for this pur- 21) pose are those of the typeR,Hg-X in which R is an unsubstituted hydrocarbon radical and X is anacid radical. These compounds are in principle the salts produced by theneutralization of the alkali RHg-OH with an acid. While'these 25compounds gave excellent results in seed disease control, beinghighlyeffective in small amounts, they, possessed the disadvantage thatthey have a disagreeable odor in some cases, are somewhat toxic and incertain circumstances have a vesi- 39 cant action. r

The present invention is intended and adapted to overcome thedisadvantages of the priorknown compounds, it being among'the objectsthereof to provide a method of and a composition for .the treatment ofseeds, which will be highly effective, relatively non-toxic,non-odorous, and non-vesi cant.

It has now been found and the present invention is based, on thisdiscovery, that certain pounds designated by the general, formulaRHg--NH--R' where Ris an unsubstituted hyf drocarbon radical such asmethyl, ethyl, phenyl, and tolyl, and the group NH- -R' is the radicalof any organic nitrogen compound in which one or more hydrogen atoms aredlrectlyattached to a nitrogen atom, retain the strong fungicidalpropcities of the group RHg, and can be used for the control of seedborne fungus diseases by applying them to seeds in appropriatequantities either in solutions,. emulsions, or as dry dusts afterintimate incorporation with an inert diluent. R is a carbon containingradical in which the carbon is directly attached to the nitrogen 55 andsaid radical may contain nitrogen and oxymembers of the group of organicmercury com-' (Ci. Edi-38) gen as well as hydrogen; such as CN and--CONH2. The toxic and other objectionable properties of the.preparations containing the previously proposed organic compounds ofmercury in the form in which they are normally applied 5 to seeds aresubstantially reduced by virtue of the use according to the invention asthe active princ ple of mercury compounds of the type RHg-NHR'.

Compounds of the type R-Hg-NI-i-R' are to be distinguished fromcompounds of the type R-Hg-X where X is an acidic radical, in that theformer are derived from organic nitrogen compounds of the type HzN-Rwhich are not acids, and therefore the compounds R--HgNH--R are notsalts.

Among the type compounds included in the present invention are those ofthe type where R is a divalent radical which is that of the di-aryl anddi-alkylsubstituted guanidines.

The amount of mercury compound in the composition mayvary within widelimits and is dependent on anumber of factors, such as the char- 25acter of the seeds, the type of disease to be controlled, the nature ofthe diluent, the particle size, and the like. In general, it may be saidthat the amount of mercury compound varies from 0.1% to 3.0% of thediluent or filler used. The amount of composition used on the seeds alsovaries with anumber of factors, but usually from 1 to 8.ounces are usedper bushel of seeds.

The following examples will serve to illustrate the invention:

35 Example 1 Example 2 A solution of calcium cyanamide'is added to asuitable amount of precipitated calcium sulphate and thoroughly mixedtherewith. To the mixture is then added with stirring a solution ofmethyl mercury sulphate at ordinary room temperature. A reaction occursresulting in the formation of the mercury compound in situ according tothe following equation:

The mixture of inert diluent and mercury compound is dried in a rotarydrier and ground to a suitable degree of fineness.

The above cited examples are for the purpose of illustrating theinvention and are not to be construed as limiting the same. Variousmodifications may be made within the spirit of the invention. Forexample, other diluents may be used in place of those mentioned above.Other nitrogen compounds may be used in place of urea and cyanamide, asthe aryl and alkyl disubstituted guanidines, aryl and alkyl amines,thioureas, substituted ureas, and the like. While certain proportions ofmercury compound in the composition have been specifically set forth,the invention is not limited thereto and the proportion of mercurycompound may vary within considerably wide limits. Less than 0.1% ormore than 3.0%, even up to 6.0% or 8.0% of mercury compound may be usedin the composition, depending upon the circumstances and the characterof the application. These and other changes may be made in the presentinvention, the scope of which is set forth in theclaims appended hereto.

What We claim is:

1. A composition for controlling fungus diseases of seeds comprising amercury compound having the general formula wherein R is anunsubstituted aliphatic hydrocarbon radical and R is a radicalconsisting of carbon and nitrogen atoms and in which carbon is directlyattached to nitrogen.

2. A composition for controlling fungus diseases of seeds comprising analkyl mercury nitrogen compound having the formula CzHsHgNHCONHz 3. Acomposition for controlling fungus diseases of seeds comprising an alkylmercury nitrogen compound having the formula CHaHgNl-ICN CHaHgNHCONHz.

6. A composition for controlling fungus discases of seeds comprising amercury compound taken from the class consisting of RHgNHCONHz,RHgNI-ICSNI-Iz, RHgNI-ICN, RHgNH aryl, RHgNH alkyl, RI-IgNC(NH aryl)z,RHgNC(NH a1ky1)2, wherein R is an unsubstituted aliphatic hydrocarbonradical.

JOSEPH ROY BOOER. GUSTAV KOSSEL.

